Introduces the basic terms and concepts, key thinkers, and fundamental apologetic issues and questions. States the what, why, and how of apologetics preparing persons for further study of reasons for faith and answers to objections. It does not present the case for Christianity or answer attacks but rather introduces one to the study of Christian apologetics.

Contents:

Part One, Challenges to Christian Faith, helps the reader understand doubt and unbelief which make apologetics necessary.

Part Two, Foundations for Apologetics, discusses concepts essential to the defense of the truth of the Christian faith, including reason, knowledge, truth, and faith.

Part Three, The Practice of Apologetics, discusses reasons for apologetics, defense of the faith in the New Testament and in church history, methods of defense, practical uses of apologetics and guidelines for apologetics.

Audience:

The audience would be Bible college, seminary, and university students as well as leaders and thinkers seeking to defend the faith. It seeks to instruct and motivate Christians to be prepared to present an intelligent and effective case for Christianity.

The book challenges Christians to be good thinkers in how they go about defending and commending Christian faith. It could serve as a first book for beginning a serious study of apologetics.

Objectives:

Be prepared to deal with doubt and unbelief.

Be acquainted with the role of thinking, knowing, truth, and faith in apologetics.

Know why we should defend the faith and how the faith can be defended.

Learn from defenders of the faith in the New Testament and in church history.

Gain practical suggestions and guidelines for giving a defense of your faith.

H. Lynn Gardner taught apologetics for forty years in Bible colleges, serving eighteen years as academic dean. A graduate of Ozark Christian College, California State University, Wheaton College, with a doctorate from the University of Arkansas. Included in his seven books are Where Is God When We Suffer? What the Bible Says about Suffering and Christianity Stands True: A Commonsense Look at the Evidence.www.lynngardner.info.

Without batting an eye, she responded, “They will when I get through.”

Can we know God? Is it possible to know about him without knowing him personally? Knowing God is the most important knowledge because ignorance of God leads to evil behavior (Romans 1:21-31; John 16:2, 3; 1 John 4:8) and bears eternal consequences (John 17:3). Knowing God personally is what really matters.

How we view life depends on how we view God. For those who do not know God, life is a confusing maze. Continue reading →

Some have predicted that humanism and naturalism would produce a completely secular America. These forecasts have not proven true. While our culture has not embraced a robust belief in orthodox Christianity. Americans are interested in spiritual things.

Sociologist Christian Smith identified the religion of American teenagers as “moralistic therapeutic deism.” He lists its beliefs as follows.

God created the world.

God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other.

The goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

God is uninvolved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.

Good people go to heaven when they die.

(Christian Smith and Melissa Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Oxford University Press, 2005).

This set of beliefs describes many adults as well as teenagers. Many I have known do not have a personal relationship with Christ or participation in a church. They use God’s name to forcefully punctuate a sentence but expect him to help them when they need him and confidently expect to go to heaven when they die.

An interest in spirituality does not make one a Christian. We must teach people to know Christ who has revealed God to us. Generic religion does not produce godly lives and does not save. In our lives and church we must help people know the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Ashamed of your body? Dislike your body? Preoccupied with your body? Is your body the most important part of you? Who influences what you think of your body? What is the Christian view of the body? We may view our bodies as a prison, as a god, or as a temple of God.

The Human Body as a Prison

Some pagans viewed the material world, including the human body, as evil. Plato thought the body hindered the soul from gaining truth, contaminating and imprisoning the soul. Epictetus saw himself as a “poor soul shackled to a corpse.” Seneca called the body a “detestable habitation” imprisoning the soul. Virgil spoke of the body as “blind darkness of this prison house.” Continue reading →